Chandigarh; The Sriomani Akali Dal, with great pain and anguish wishes to place on record that the Indian State continues to indulge in Sikh-baiting and anti-Sikh policies. What is more disturbing is that whenever the Indian State mounts a fresh attack on the Sikhs a section of the Indian print media tums it into annus mirabilis. This happened in 1984 when the Golden Temple was stormed by the India Army in violation of its own Constitution (Article 49) and International law and the massacre of Sikhs that followed, 1984 was a vintage year for the Sikh baiters in the Indian army, bureaucracy, judiciary, print media, politicians belonging to forces of Hindu fundamentalism, 1992 appears to be another annus-mirabilis for these every forces as the extradition treaty with Great Britain will show. Editorials from the Indian Express dated 9/24/92 and the Pioneer dated 9/24/92, are examples. Both have dubbed all Sikhs as “terrorists” and both have blamed the Sikhs for the crash of Kanishka off the coast of Ireland. We wish to stress that the Canadian government has found no evidence of Sikh “involvement” whatever and to blame the Sikhs for this tragedy in which a number of Sikhs also lost their lives, is to tarnish the name of the Sikhs, This ill becomes the majority community which is meant to respect a minority which has made so many sacrifices for the majority.
Now let us examine the extradition treaty dispassionately. The Akali Dal wishes to inform the school of Sikh-baiters that the British Government is about to implement the decisions of the European Human Rights Court as Strasbourg. The European Human Rights Court held that no person from European Soil and Great Britain who happens to be on that soil can be extradited to a country which has the death penalty on its Statutes. India is such country and therefore the Sikh-baiters will be disappointed to know that no Sikh will ever be extradited. As such the P.T.1. report that there is gloom amongst the Sikhs should send jitters amongst our adversaries not us. Secondly the Indian State had maintained that any probe by Amnesty International would dilute Indian sovereignty, But Shri Chavan the Home Minister of India did a complete volte face in London by asking Amnesty International to visit India and see Indias track record on human rights, Our party now wishes to ask the Hindu fundamentalist state and its protagonist is what has happened to Indias sovereignty? is Indias sovereignty still intact after this abject surrender? There is an English expression to explain this dilemma the Sikh baiters face. “You cut off your nose to spite your face.” This is exactly what will continue to happen unless Hindus and Sikhs re-establish their fraternal tics. The Akali Dal makes it clear that in this catch 22 situation there will be no winners and no losers. This is our party’s response to the gloating over this extradition treaty. This is a pyrrhic victory, if we call it one.
Secondly there is great jubilation in certain sections of the Indian press over the “Punjab Police Chief K.P.S. Gill who now riding the crest of popularity.” The Akali Dal wishes to remind this school of thought that Gills successes have been outside the parameters of the constitution, the law, international law, rule of law and respect for fundamental basic human rights, The Mughal state also subdued the Sikhs with the same methods and the success was shone lived and proved counter-productive. Unless the Indian State can win the hearts of the Sikh people, their illegal detentions, deaths in fake encounters, illegal searches, torture and humiliation will not solve the Indo-Sikh problem. Thirdly the Sriomani Akali Dal has no faith in the setting up of the Human Rights Panel, The Indian State has become lawless and unconstitutional as far as the Sikhs are concerned, If an individual commits a crime he is climinated in a fake encounter or charged with an offence, if he is lucky. If the same crime is committed by a member of the majority community e g. massacre of Sikhs in 1984 the perpetrators are not even hauled before a Court of law. Operation Blue Star is the root cause of the deep chasm in Hindu Sikh relations but yet no Hunter Commission type of inquiry has been ordered. A British Colonial government appointed the Hunter Commission into the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh but the worlds largest democracy is afraid to face the truth? Why? How will the Human Rights Commission address those wrong and the genocide of the Sikhs? To our mind this is another ploy to appease the western democracies and bring in World Bank and I,M.F. loans.
Can a corrupt and immoral state bluff all the people all the time? The Indian army’s jack-boot is visible in the Punjab, Kashmir and Assam today. The other day it was called into solve the water problem of Chandigarh. How long will the Indian Army stand by as a silent spectator and bale out this corrupt and immoral political and bureaucratic system?
In a nutshell the need of the hour is not for the Hindu fundamentalist to clap his hands in sordid glee when pain is inflicted on the Sikhs but to do some introspection and see the 4,000 crore bank scandal, the Bofors deal, the break up of the Indian judicial system and the partisan role of the Indian press. These factors are destroying India and not the Sikhs who produce 70% of Indias food grain for an increasing Indian population. The B.J.P. government has produced a text-book for schools that makes derogatory remarks against the Sikhs. We will be grateful if our counter-view is given as much publicity as the joy over the extradition treaty and extra-judicial killings of Sikhs by the Indian State.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 9, 1992
